Three months on, the search for Gigi continues

The DiSilvio family of Mattituck has not been whole in three months.

On July 15, Gigi, their nearly 2-year-old black Labrador, went missing from her home. For Michael DiSilvio, Gigi was not just a dog, but his inseparable companion, his motivation. Following his time as a combat veteran, serving with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., and at Fort Drum in Jefferson County, N.Y., Mr. DiSilvio isolated himself, as many veterans do. He resisted joining peer groups for vets and seeking an officially trained guide or service animal.

Gigi, however, became his service dog. By encouraging him to wake up every morning and take his kids to school, she was the glue that kept his family together.

“I have a lot of problems getting up, getting going for the day,” Mr. DiSilvio said of the months since Gigi disappeared. “I’ll lay there, look at the ceiling a little bit, take a deep breath, and go, ‘I got to get [my son] Raylan going.’ He just started junior high this year, and it was really difficult to get up and start making him breakfast … [Gigi] would run into [my daughter] Isla’s room, jump up in the bed, help get her up. It was really heartbreaking.”

For the past 90 days, Mr. DiSilvio said he has been struggling to not lose ground on the progress Gigi has helped him make, to “not sit on the couch or fall into a rut.” He added that in recent weeks, he has been starting to get better. 

After his kids are at school, he plunges into scrolling Facebook, where countless people post updates regarding Gigi on community pages, the most prominent of which, Missing Angels-Long Island, has 24,000 followers. Locals often post photos of nearby dogs close to Gigi’s color and stature, but never quite right. Regardless, Mr. DiSilvio hits the road. After all, even if it’s not Gigi, it’s still someone’s lost dog.

“Even if I don’t have a car, I’ve jumped on my bike, I’ve called a neighbor for a ride or a friend,” Mr. DiSilvio said. “You know, it’s not your dog, but we’ll still go and look because we feel how everybody helped us. I’m more aware of how many dogs are loose on Long Island … It’s unfathomable how many dogs are loose. So now I feel like I need to go and help other people. So if there’s a chance I can help somebody else’s dog, we run.”

Much like his own family, the Mattituck community and neighboring hamlets have refused to give up on Gigi. Missing flyers depicting her in the back of her family’s car have become a recognizable fixture around Jamesport and Mattituck. Some community members looking to lend a hand have even laminated flyers or translated them into Spanish. The Mattituck native said he has never seen his community rally in this manner for a lost dog. He could only compare the compassion he has seen to the community’s unity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So many people came together,” he said. “I get maybe 50 calls a day … I consider her everybody’s dog. I go into King Kullen, people come up to me and my daughter and say, ‘We can’t wait til you find Gigi. Do you have any flyers in your car? Can we help?’ ”

Anyone who thinks they might have spotted Gigi is asked to contact the DiSilvios at 516-443-4902 and to provide any photographs, videos and descriptions they may have.